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LETTER: Political will needed to combat climate change

Thirty years ago when I started a career as a private sector meteorologist, I was a global warming skeptic. But over years I changed my views after watching the oceans warm, sea-levels rise, extreme weather events increase and glaciers melt at rates that cannot be explained by theories of natural variation alone. Over this same period, I have watched many of our politicians remain global warming skeptics, or accept that it is happening, but show no political will to do anything about it.

Thirty years ago when I started a career as a private sector meteorologist, I was a global warming skeptic. But over years I changed my views after watching the oceans warm, sea-levels rise, extreme weather events increase and glaciers melt at rates that cannot be explained by theories of natural variation alone. Over this same period, I have watched many of our politicians remain global warming skeptics, or accept that it is happening, but show no political will to do anything about it.

Time is running out. The National Academy of Sciences has stated that “Climate change is one of the defining issues of our time. It is now more certain than ever, based on many lines of evidence, that humans are changing Earth’s climate. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, accompanied by sea-level rise, a strong decline in Arctic sea ice, and other climate-related changes.”

Two separate scientific papers were published in the journals Science and Geophysical Research Letters in 2014 have shown that the huge West Antarctic ice sheet has become unstable and will likely start a slow collapse in an unstoppable way. This means the projected 2100 sea level rise of two-to-three feet in the 2013 IPCC report may be far too low if we do not change the trend in our emissions.

In New Jersey, 140,000 people live within three feet of the high-tide line. When a 4-foot storm surge associated with a once-in-50-years storm is taken into account, a 3-foot sea-level rise would place the homes of 400,000 people at risk. The bottom line is our actions or inactions today will determine not just the stability of the ice sheets, but also the stability of countries where more than a billion people live in low-lying coastal regions.

In his encyclical, Pope Francis said, “I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.” It’s time for Republicans and Democrats to follow his advice and start the conversation.

There are climate solutions that the Pope and even Republicans and Democrats can agree on. I have joined the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. We are calling for a predictable, steadily-rising fee on carbon, returning the revenue to the people. By transparently pricing carbon, we will attain the emissions reductions needed. By giving the revenue back to people, we protect the poor from rising costs associated with the fee.

Politicians don’t create political will, they respond to it. The Pope is doing his part, but citizens need to ask more from their politicians. Write or call your New Jersey congressman and ask him/her to start the conversation and provide them with the will to take action on climate solutions.